Horner not culpable for missed test: USADA

AFP, MADRID

The overall leader, US cyclist Chris Horner of RadioShack Leopard Trek, celebrates with a glass of sparkling wine during the 21st and final stage of this year’s Vuelta a Espana between Leganes and Madrid, Spain, on Sunday.

Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health

Photo: EPA

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has confirmed it does not consider Vuelta a Espana winner Chris Horner to have missed a drug test after Spanish anti-doping authorities turned up at the wrong hotel to carry out a test on Monday.

The 41-year-old American became the oldest ever winner of a Grand Tour in Madrid on Sunday.

The Spanish authorities had been asked to carry out the test on behalf of the USADA and attended the hotel where the majority of Horner’s RadioShack Leopard Trek team were staying on Monday morning.

However, RadioShack confirmed that Horner was instead staying at a different hotel with his wife on Sunday night and had communicated his location, telephone number and one-hour time window to be tested to the USADA.

“Chris Horner updated his whereabouts with USADA before the start of the final stage, giving the agency the name of his hotel for the night, telephone number and room number for his one-hour window between 6am and 7am. This is all according to the rules and Chris Horner received a confirmation e-mail,” the team said in a statement accompanied by a copy of the e-mails Horner sent to and received from the USADA.

In response, the USADA admitted that there had been no wrongdoing on Horner’s part and that they had not passed on the information regarding Horner’s change of whereabouts before the testers visited RadioShack’s hotel.

“In response to public statements from Team RadioShack today concerning Chris Horner, USADA can confirm that we were coordinating an out-of-competition test with the Agencia Espaqola de Proteccisn de la Salud en el Deporte [AEA] while Mr Horner was in Spain,” it said. “Mr Horner properly updated his whereabouts information in advance of the test attempt, but given that the information was received in the United States, the AEA doping control officer on the ground in Spain did not receive the updated information prior to arriving at the hotel. This is not considered a missed test and neither anti-doping organization provided information to the media regarding this situation.”